Predicting the 6 wild-card and LDS matchups

Suddenly, baseball's regular season is almost finished, with just two weeks until the Division Series. With the races taking their final shape, our editors predict the first six matchups of the 2016 playoffs.

AL Wild Card

Though there's still some bunching up in this race, the AL wild-card game is setting up to be an AL East showdown. The Blue Jays have remained in a playoff spot despite major September struggles, while the Orioles have kept pace thanks to their monstrous offense. But the unbalanced schedule could hurt these teams - Toronto and Baltimore play each other in the final week - and allow the pesky Tigers to slide in.

NL Wild Card

Even after doing everything in their power to miss the postseason, the Giants are hanging onto a wild-card spot, and it just so happens Madison Bumgarner - who, as a prologue to perhaps the most dominant pitching performance in playoff history, tossed a complete-game shutout in the 2014 wild-card game - is on schedule to start the play-in game on six-days' rest. You can't predict baseball, but obviously Bumgarner is a good bet to dominate whichever team is unfortunate enough to face him, whether the Mets or Cardinals.

ALDS (Wild Card)

All signs point to an AL East team advancing to the Division Series, where a fierce opponent will be waiting. It's still possible for the Red Sox to catch the Rangers for the best record in the AL - setting up a potentially classic series between fierce division rivals - but Texas has a good hold on the junior circuit's top seed. In all likelihood, this series will be a highly anticipated rematch of last year's all-time great series between the Rangers and Blue Jays - and as you may recall, those teams don't think very highly of one another.

ALDS

Both the Indians and Red Sox have their divisions all but locked down, making this intriguing series a distinct possibility unless Boston's surge leads them to the AL's best record. A Cleveland-Boston series would be a rematch of the 2007 ALCS, when Indians skipper Terry Francona was guiding the Red Sox to their second title in four years. The Indians would need their suddenly thinned-out pitching to dominate here, which is no small feat against that Boston lineup.

NLDS (Wild Card)

That champagne in the NL wild-card game winner's clubhouse will dry pretty fast once they remember who's waiting. Anything can happen in that one-game playoff, so every possible Division Series scenario is still on the table. The possibilities are all intriguing: A Giants team built for October and surging at the right time, an NLCS rematch, or the Cardinals seeking revenge for last year's Division Series loss to their bitter rivals. But each of these teams will have used their ace by the time they get to Wrigley Field, making for a tough road against the powerful Cubbies.

NLDS

Thanks to the Cubs' record pace and the Dodgers' lead over the Giants, this matchup is assured barring an absolutely unfathomable collapse by either team. Los Angeles can still catch Washington for home-field advantage in this series, which should also provide many excellent storylines and matchups, including Clayton Kershaw against Bryce Harper and Daniel Murphy.

Predictions were compiled by theScore MLB editors Jonah Birenbaum, Lucas Casaletto, George Halim, Bryan Mcwilliam, Steph Rogers, Simon Sharkey-Gotlieb, Jonathan Soveta, Dan Toman, and Brandon Wile